Winning 'em over

JOLIET, Ill. – He may not be quite ready to challenge Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the title of most popular driver in NASCAR, but Kyle Busch is finding the best way to win fans over:

Just keep winning races.

In his seventh win and one of his best finishes of the season, Busch rallied back with two laps to go, snookering two-time defending champ Jimmie Johnson in the process, to capture Saturday night's LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

And just like they've been increasingly doing the past few weeks, the fans responded in kind, the post-race cheers far outweighing the boos as Busch and the No. 18 Toyota put on a show that even the haters could appreciate.

"You go out there, do your job and do what you can," Busch said. "You have to stay hungry, yet humble in this sport and the things you try to do to win over the fans. They're here to support our racing."

It's almost as if the sport's newest villain has turned over a new leaf and is suddenly on his way to becoming the sport's latest Mr. Nice Guy.

Still, Busch knows he's not going to win over everyone – at least not yet – and he's alright with that.

"I wish they liked me, but I have to play, I guess, the bad boy role and them not liking me for whatever reason," he said. "I'm trying, but all I can do is go out there and win races and try to do what I can to make my team and sponsors happy."

When Johnson passed him with 16 laps to go – and then all but checked out on the field – Busch was ready to concede his former teammate the win.

"Race over," he muttered over his team radio.

"I gave up on it, gave up on myself," Busch said afterward.

But when David Gilliland's engine blew up four laps from the finish, that's all Busch needed. He wasn't going to settle for second place; he was going to make Johnson earn the win.

"It doesn't take a whole lot of motivation to get me going, and I was probably going to do what I did anyway, but (spotter Jeff Dickerson) gave one whale of a speech," Busch said. "He pretty much said, 'You ain't got a hair on your ass if you don't go to the outside and pass this guy.' I did what I could and tried to make his words work and obviously they worked out for us."

Approaching the re-start with two laps to go, Busch gunned it, planting his front bumper into the back of Johnson's car.

Digging deeper than he had all night and perhaps all season, his No. 18 Toyota barely managing to stick on the high line when physics made his tires scream in protest, Busch and the rubber under him held on for dear life.

"It stuck for me, I don't know how or why," Busch said.

Like an NFL running back, Busch faked a run to the inside and shocked Johnson by going to his outside – completely opposite of his usual tendency to win races down low rather than up high.

"The 18 just kind of bonzaied in there on the outside and it stuck, pinched the 48 up off the corner and (shook) his momentum and just kept on going," said third-place finisher Kevin Harvick.

When Busch managed to pull even with Johnson's rear bumper, it was race over once again – only this time with a different ending.

"When I heard the spotter say he's looking (outside), I knew I was in trouble," Johnson said.

End result: Busch wins again, collects a bunch of new fans in the process and, most important, vaults to a huge 262-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the standings.

In so doing, Busch expanded his repertoire of finding new ways to win. He's now won at day and night, from short tracks to road courses, superspeedways to mile-and-a-half tracks. Saturday night, he came from behind even when he thought it wasn't possible.

"There's been races I probably could have won that I've given up, whether it's been on the last lap or five laps or 10 laps," Busch admitted. "Guys get a little bit better at the end of the race than I do or we don't keep up with the race tracks or have bad pit calls or whatever."

But Busch didn't give up this time. And he won by doing virtually the same exact thing that has carried Johnson to many of his own 32 career Cup victories. It was the student beating the master at his own game.

"I was able to pull a Jimmie Johnson on him sort of and it worked out somehow," Busch said. "It didn't matter where he was going to go, I was going to go the opposite way.

"I think this is the first time I've said 'race over' and Jimmie Johnson didn't win."

All he has to do is keep doing that and it may not be long before Busch never hears another boo again.